We, the parish of Sacred Heart, are committed to enriching the Spirituality of the parish family, the Christian community, and all brothers and sisters created in God's divine image and likeness.  We are called by the Holy Spirit, under the leadership of our Bishop and Pastor, to assist others through the development and promotion of various ministries.  We pray for Divine guidance that we may serve others with truth, courage, forethought, and compassion.

New Horizons-The Man Born Blind
by:  Fr. Mark Watson, Pastor
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
by:  Deacon Clary S. Nash
 
 
   Today stories lead up to the end of Lent, Martha sends for Jesus, she says, “Master, the one you love is sick.” So the first word in John’s description of what is to take place is Jesus loved her. And that’s the keynote of understanding this whole    gospel. It is love. Jesus loves her, Jesus loves Lazarus, and he loves Mary, and he loves his disciples, and he loves you, and that’s what he does. He has come to bring the love of God and to help us understand that he loves us just the way we are. He wants us to find fulness of life that can only come in a love relationship.  Jesus finally comes and Martha rushes out to meet him, appears to be a little annoyed because she felt that if he had come, he would have healed her brother and her brother would be alive.  And she says to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”  She’s kind of hoping that he will do something very special. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” And then he says to her, “Do you believe this?” And she says, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” He means that he himself can give eternal life to all who come to him, but they must believe. And if they open their hearts and they believe in him, they already have eternal life, because he is the Son of God, and God represents life, not death. There is nothing about death in God. He lives and His Son comes to tell us that he lives, and he continues to live after he dies, and we will live.
  What Jesus is revealing to Martha, is that all are destined for eternal life, that death is only a transition. It’s a movement. It is moving from one place to another, absent like a job relocation or going on vacation. Death is not the end because Jesus says, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.”
He mourns at the tomb. But why? If Lazarus is with God and he’s safe, there’s no need for mourning.” But he knows differently.
   He knows that when he passes from us and that we can no longer reach him in our daily life, we go on a distant journey into a darkness we do not understand, we mourn, because we have lost something. But our mourning is in faith, and we believe that he has gone to a God who loves him. Jesus mourns for the fact that this world is a rough and cruel place. And it isn’t God who has made it that way, but we ourselves. People’s lives are full of loneliness, full of difficulty. There are so many fears and, even in this day when we seem to have material things, our hearts hunger and sometimes fear and sometimes get lost in the malaise that comes with just being a human being.
   We were created to love. That’s what Jesus says and that’s what the gospel says. God loves us, God cares, God is 
concerned, so much that He allows His Son to take on the pain of us, because only through the Incarnation could the pain of our daily existence be experienced by God Himself.
We were created for life. We must put our faith in love with each other.
And for those who love and for those who have faith, we have no trouble understanding the words of Jesus, “I am the light of the world. I am the truth, and the truth will make you free. And I am the life and you must know that you might pass through many darknesses, not necessarily death, but the darkness of on the edges of despair, of disappointment, of feeling all alone, or rejected, everything that it means to be a human being, as well as rejoicing and praising God for the great things in life.
When those times come, you must know that he is with you and you must turn to him in faith.
Believe in him?  
     John wants us to understand. In Lazarus, it’s the sign and symbol of the truth of every human being, that we are not created just for a time, to die and to disappear into nothingness, but we are created to be loved by God, to love God and to love each other and, most of all, to love this world.
that we might finally bring this world to what it was created for: a world of forgiveness, a world of caring, a world not without its problems, but a world based on the knowledge from the gift of faith, that God the creator is real, loves us today and        forever.  We just need the faith of Martha.
 
 

     First we want to thank everyone who supports St. Vincent de Paul! Without your donations, SVdP would not exist.  The inflation has hit the less fortunate hard.  We cannot afford to buy eggs for the pantry. One case of 15 dozen eggs cost $60 now!  We try to keep bath soap and toilet tissue throughout the year.  In January your SVdP fed 53 families, which included 51 children, 57 adults, 13 seniors, and 6 homeless.  Cost of food was $292.20 for 3,981 pounds.  The Food Bank has been so helpful.  Finding available housing is becoming extremely difficult.  Some, who are forced to rent, their rent has gone up $150.  Even small apartments are costing over $650.00 a month.  Renters are forced out of their apartments if they can't pay.  Some have lived in those apartments for 10 or more years. Calls for help have gone up substantially.  We are extremely in need of children’s clothes of all sizes. Thank you for helping through the Poor Box. 
   Bea Cernigliaro is seriously planning on passing the baton after 24 years.  She is planning on resigning at the end of 2023.  That leaves 10 months of hands-on training. Four holidays have to be organized for easy distributions: Lenten bags, Easter baskets, Thanksgiving food baskets, and Angel Tree for the children’s Christmas gifts. The new person or persons will get an idea of how this is handled.  New ideas are great and helpful.  You will have a wonderful volunteer staff.  Could not have been successful without our muscle men and the wonderful ladies who handle the paperwork.  At the moment, we need another person on the clothing side.  The men need one more person, also.  Being able to help load and unload heavy food cases is necessary. Please call Bea if you feel God is calling your name to help others, 631-5278.
 
 

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We offer our prayer for peace in solidarity with the Holy Father, Pope Francis for Peace in Ukraine.

We ask for the intercession of St. Michael the Archangel the Patron Saint of Ukraine, to bring peace and hope to this nation and its people.

Lord, look down with mercy and compassion on Your humble servants, and out of love for mankind hearken and have mercy on us and on the land of Ukraine.

Lift up those who fight in defense of Ukraine and her much suffering people, outnumbered though they be.

With deep compassion and mercy enlighten and make glad the hearts of the civil authorities and strengthen them by Your might.

 St. Michael the Archangel Pray for us.

JEAN WOODS
HONORED AT ANNUAL CATHOLIC BLACK HISTORY MASS AT SACRED HEART
FEBRUARY 19, 2023
 

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Shreveport held it’s annual Catholic Black History Celebration Mass on Sunday, February 19th at 10:30am. Jean Woods of Sacred Heart was this year’s honoree and oh my did everyone see this coming! If you know Jean, you'll know why she was an excellent choice to be honored- and if you haven't, let me tell you why. As a convert to the Catholic faith, Jean Woods DOES NOT take a passive approach to living out the Catholic Faith. As Deacon Clary said this past Sunday, "A lot of people have ideas for the Church and wants others to do them, Jean Woods, on the other hand, has many ideas and executes all of them herself."
     Congratulations Jean, Sacred Heart is very proud to have you as a parishioner.  God Bless all your hard work!

Sacred Heart Family,

Sacred Heart Grief Support Group is Helping families recover from the loss of a love one.  I also see a need for a Family Support Group to aid our families with a variety of needs, to be able to reach out in a safe and confidential way with other couples.  I would like to start a Sacred Heart Family Support Group.  The aim is to have family couples that are open minded and nonjudgmental that can listen to each other and share personal reflections.

The aim is to:
· Increase the strength and resilience of families
· Support better family relationships so to reach their full           potential
· Helps families make acquaintances with other families and     resources in the community
· Provides individualized, family-driven support that respects family culture, values, and preferences
 
Benefits
· Increases families' level of knowledge about family   relationships
· Connects parents with similar experiences
· Reduces the sense of stress and isolation
· Provides opportunities for families to support each other
 
Please let me know if you would be interested in starting this ministry at Sacred Heart.   Just email me individually at deaconnash@sacredheartshreveport.org
 
 
                                              Deacon Clary Nash
 

You can now donate/tithe/contribute online towards the needs of our church.
Please visit our online-giving page at the top bar of this page.

How the Lucky Calendar Numbers work for you  and
work for the good of the Church

This is what the fundraiser provides to this church:
 

• The intent is to gift 80% of sales above the cost of the program each year to the church.
• to provide a fun filled stress free Fall Fair for you, your family, and friends. 
• to show appreciation to Mother’s and Father’s by giving gifts this year and future.
• to help offset the cost to send our youth to different camps/events/retreats.
• If all 1,000 numbers are sold THIS year for 2022 calendar year, That equals $25,000.
• If all 1,000 numbers are sold, the guaranteed payout would be around $9,000

1. The gaming commission has approved this to be a fundraiser.
2. Each Lucky Calendar Number is assigned a 3-digit number
3. The winning numbers ARE the Louisiana Lottery Pick 3 numbers which are drawn & announced every night at 10 pm except Easter and Christmas when there is no drawing. 
4. For you, the payout is like this: if your number is drawn Monday through Friday, you win $25.00.  If it’s drawn on a Saturday, you win $35.00 and if it is drawn on a Sunday you win $50.
5. But if your # is drawn on one of the 20 selected special days listed on the Lucky Number, you win $100, $200 or $300 instead of the above prize.
6. There is no limit to how many times you can win, it’s all based on the Pick 3 numbers.
7. The Pastoral Council keeps up with the numbers, you don’t have to unless you choose to.
8. Each Monday winning numbers are recorded and checks are mailed. 
9. Each Lucky Calendar Number cost $25.

• Each Church family take 5 Lucky Numbers to sell to family, friends, and co-workers, etc. and be sure to turn in the address portion &  money in to the church.
• Buy one for yourself
• Buy one for your significant other
• Give as gifts

Have fun and play along.  You’ll be glad you did!

The Pastoral Council

After Wed. Morning Mass and
30 minutes before Weekend Masses)

Location:
4736 Lyba Street
Shreveport, LA   71109-0467

Postal Mail:
4736 Lyba Street
Shreveport, LA   71109-0467

Rectory:            318-635-2121
Church:             318-635-2121
Fax:                  318-635-5226
Gabriel Hall:     318-635-5446